EU Would Be Our Trade Priority, UK Opposition Labour Party Says
The opposition Labour Party would make rebuilding Britain’s ties with the ecu Union its top trade priority, putting the bloc above U.S and Indo-Pacific deals within the post-Brexit era, its national trading policy chief Emily Thornberry said on Monday,
Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson is merely two years into a possible five-year term, but Labour is using its annual conference in southern England to bill itself as a reputable alternative government with Britain beset by fuel shortages, empty shelves and soaring energy prices.
The government has made a push into the Indo-Pacific its trading priority, eyeing premium exports to its rapidly expanding middle classes and a surge in demand for British professional services.
But Thornberry told Reuters she would instead specialise in fixing trade partnerships closer to home which are hit by increased bureaucracy and a deterioration in diplomatic relations caused by the rancorous EU exit negotiations.
The reality is that it is often easier to trade with those that are geographically near, that’s how it works,” Thornberry said.
She described the trade agreement signed with the EU on Christmas Eve 2020 as “thin” and “desperate”, but said there was scope to create thereon and restore a far better functioning arrangement with Britain’s largest export market.
Since leaving the EU, British exporters in some sectors have either been priced out of EU markets or stop entirely by the stress of latest customs rules.
Thornberry’s initiative would be to strike an agreement with the EU to resolve problems with the transportation of food between Britain and therefore the EU, and Britain and Northern Ireland .
The government has said it wants to seek out solutions, but won’t tie its food standard permanently to EU law.
A veterinary deal could help rebuild trust with Brussels and open the door to mini agreements on a variety of other difficult issues that were delayed or left unresolved by the 2020 deal, Thornberry said.
“Build on what’s there, repair the holes, be pragmatic, be realistic, be grown up politicians and not dogmatic,” Thornberry said.
